Adventures that dont suck [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adventures that dont suck [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mithose
01-02-04, 01:38 AM I'v always written my adventures the same way and now that I'm becoming better and better at it, I'm realising there are proboably much better ways of designing interesting things for my players to do. Heres how I'v been doing it...

The players are given some kind of plot hook and some how find out about an adventure... lets say gilad the barkeep tells them that tomb of a wizard has been found in the city well (gimmie a break I just thought it up)

The party goes to the adventure sight and investigates, learns whats goign on..... It turns out that the last party to go into this tomb never came back, and they had alot of valuable magic... not to mention the hords of undead that this wizard had following him

I then make a map or have a cronological list of events, and write down all the stats of the monsters:behold: encoutnered, or think or the puzzels:confused: found, or write down the damage the traps :b: do.

The players go through in the order I had planned and acomplishes what they set out to do

As you can see, this is very bland and its also quite a bit of work for me as the dm. I'v considered planning less, but I'm afraid that the game might suffer (ie... the barkeep really does tell the party theirs a wizards tomb hidden in the well)

so please, tell me how you plan (or dont plan) your adventures, and perferably the good and bad parts about them
Fixxxer
01-02-04, 01:59 AM Generally, I keep three or four adventures around at any given time. Rather than obviously dangling a plot hook in front of the players ("Hey, why don't you big, strong adventurers go to the wizard's tomb?", I try to subtly implant at least two or three hooks in such a way that it looks like they're brought up in a normal conversation as opponsed to being thrust upon them ("Yeah, my sister was one of the excavators who was doing research on that place they found up North").

Some adventures and some locations do require the direct thrusting of adventure hooks upon the players, though unless this is something that's going to affect them no matter what the decide to do (a rampaging army of orcs is about to show up at the front gates), I try to limit this to "job boards" or jobs given by one of the guilds the PCs might be members of (much like Daggerfall and Morrowwind).
ridiculous
01-02-04, 09:54 AM Make adventures that require a little or no combat/dungeon crawling, like investigating a murder or some other kind of mystery. If your players like dungeon crawling, you can always put a dungeon at the end of the adventure... maybe the murderer ran away in some maze with traps and undeads or something...
zodiki
01-02-04, 11:13 AM I like creating campaigns like the LotR or Raiders of the Lost Ark where there is one overall goal that's time sensitive. That way, there can be twists and turns, victories and defeats along the way but everything for the most part moves towards the goal. This requires the players to buy into it and come up with reasons their PCs want to continue the adventure. This needs to be done at the beginning. I don't have a problem though if a character decides he doesn't want to pursue it anymore and goes off on his own, the player just has to make another PC.

Since there's an overall goal, I make the key adventures to support that goal. While the PCs are in the middle of one scene or story arc, I plant future possibilities to feel out which way the party might be going after this episode. Sometimes there's only one choice but usually there are several. I narrow it down to one choice before they "solve" the current adventure.

To avoid rail-roading I always come up with several entry points to the adventure which allow the PCs to choose their next move without interference. I've been a DM for a long time and usually can anticipate the groups actions. Once in a while though there's an long-ball breakaway or flick-on and I'm scrambling to recover. That's a good time for a side-trek or a down-time adventure. These are little adventures or situations that I write up ahead of time that can easily be modified on the fly.

My main point is that with my group, the fact that there is an overall goal and that goal is one that is both meaningful to the PCs and interesting to the players gives a context to all adventures - so it's not just another kick down the door, kill the dragon and take it's stuff - shampoo, rinse repeat - boring 4 hours - not that there's anything wrong with that.
Joachim de Ravenbel
01-02-04, 11:31 AM The players are given some kind of plot hook and some how find out about an adventure... lets say gilad the barkeep tells them that tomb of a wizard has been found in the city well (gimmie a break I just thought it up)

At the beginning of a campain, I never give a plot hook but drop the PCs directly in action (You are travelling from A to B when..., You are in a jail and you notice... You stopped to have your lunch when...). That's, as said, is for the starting adventure of a campain. For the following ones, I generally give one or better more (see Fixxxer, above) at the end of the preceeding one. The advantages are
i) direct immersion in the game for all the adventures,
ii) you know in advance where the next session will go
iii) you avoid the cliché: you are in a tavern when someone, seeing that you are famous (hmm) adventurers comes to you...

JdR
Jacob W. Michaels
01-02-04, 10:28 PM My style falls along similar lines as Zodiki's. I know as a player that I like feeling like I'm in charge of where I'm going and not just following some basic treasure hunt/job that I learned about in a bar every time out. Drop me a diary that I can follow up on at my leisure during some completely unconnected adventure and I'm as happy as a clam in mud.

Even better, give me something relating to my background. If, for example, I'm a monk who was raised in a monastery after being left there as a baby, have some bad guy drop a hint about my parents. That could lead to three or four adventures that I feel like I've decided to go on and am in control of. One or two to track the enemy down, a third quest to get her to divulge her information, and then a fourth to find my parents and learn why they abandoned me 20 years earlier. (And you can keep adding to it -- turns out dad is Emperor Doom of Latveria and he's more than happy to welcome me to the family -- in fact, perhaps I could help out and take care of a few things for him.)

Jacob
The_EvilDungeon_Master
01-02-04, 10:55 PM Hmm.
When I'm playing with my friends, I tend to give them quite a few miniquests before I start on the main campaign.
This allows them to get strong enough, and get used to the world.
Oakspar77777
01-03-04, 12:00 AM I like to think of adventures as "layers" in a mapbuilding program. They vary from the very broad layer of ground top, to specific layers of doodads, triggers, characters, etc.

(1) Layer one is character goal. This is what the characters each seek and strive for as a character. Hopefully this is more than just a really powerful character (munchkanism), a PrC (buildism), or undefined (poor-roleplayism). It might be revenge, a life of ease, power (within the campaign world, like being a king or dictator), earning the favor of a deity, etc. These make for great plot hooks for lesser adventures and themes for why the characters adventure in the first place.

(2) Layer two is running jokes, I mean recurring adventures. These are the adventures that "scale" with the PCs and cause many smaller adventures. One example is the Nemesis. A NPC villian that pops up from time to time, each time more powerful than the last throughout the PCs careers. Another is the episodic adventure, that occurs over several smaller, escalating adventures.

A favorite Nemesis of mine is Thanatos, a Cleric / Necromancer (Higher levels Pale Master), who the PrC's meet while he is pretending to be a Cleric of Pelor and walks them into a Skeleton / Zombie ambush in a graveyard at lower levels. Later on, he pops up as an agent of the Necromancers guild, at the head of an undead army, I even arrange for the PCs to be responsible for the "entrapment with undead" requirement for the Pale Master PrC.

A favorite Episodic Adventure of mine is the Rat Race. The first encounter is clearing a warehouse in the Dock District of rats. Later on, the same warehouse is having more troubles, but it is with Moonrats leading Dire Rats. Later on is a random encounter with some Dire Rats in the streets, only the Dire Rats have gems in their cheek pouches. Finnally, the PCs get to stake out a jewler's shop, follow some dire rats back to the sewers. Down in the sewers, they can eventually find the pack of Wererats that are using the rats to do their stealing for them. In the nest, the PCs find evidence that the Wererats are supported by one of the council members. Only at high levels will the PCs have the clout to call down a member of the council, but they have that information in the back of their minds for levels.

(3) Layer three are pointed adventures. These are adventures where the PCs quest for a specific benefit to their character. Fighter wants a flaming sword? Why have him buy the enchantment from a local mage, when you can have him take the party on a journy to a volcano and convince the resident Red Dragon to plunge the sword down into the volcano's heart. Diplomacy, GP cost, adventuring, and possibly some good ole' dragon smiting if worse comes to worse. Wizard wants a new spell? Buy a scroll? Heavens no! Have the spell scribed on the wall of an anchient temple. Let the party set up and defend a camp for a few days while the wizard researches the spell on site.
(4) Layer four are story adventures. These are the adventures like investigating a murder, politcal intrigue, or even combatless encounters like cat burglaring. Skill use happens, CRs are faced, but the point is what happens not what dies.

(5) Hook adventures. This includes errend running, seek and destroy (monster slaying), site encounters (dungeon delving), etc.

(6) Random encounters. No story purpose (or else they are not really random). Some are hide or flee (gargantuan overflying red dragon), some are diplomacy (other adventurers, NPCs, etc), and some are combat (a pair of Trolls guarding a bridge).

By including all of these kinds of encounters, your PCs will not grow bored, since there will be less hack and slash (which gets old), and more reasons to focus on skills and their use, as well as roleplaying elements.

Hope this helps, and happy gaming!!!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mithose 01-02-04, 01:38 AM	I'v always written my adventures the same way and now that I'm becoming better and better at it, I'm realising there are proboably much better ways of designing interesting things for my players to do. Heres how I'v been doing it... The players are given some kind of plot hook and some how find out about an adventure... lets say gilad the barkeep tells them that tomb of a wizard has been found in the city well (gimmie a break I just thought it up) The party goes to the adventure sight and investigates, learns whats goign on..... It turns out that the last party to go into this tomb never came back, and they had alot of valuable magic... not to mention the hords of undead that this wizard had following him I then make a map or have a cronological list of events, and write down all the stats of the monsters:behold: encoutnered, or think or the puzzels:confused: found, or write down the damage the traps :b: do. The players go through in the order I had planned and acomplishes what they set out to do As you can see, this is very bland and its also quite a bit of work for me as the dm. I'v considered planning less, but I'm afraid that the game might suffer (ie... the barkeep really does tell the party theirs a wizards tomb hidden in the well) so please, tell me how you plan (or dont plan) your adventures, and perferably the good and bad parts about them
Fixxxer 01-02-04, 01:59 AM	Generally, I keep three or four adventures around at any given time. Rather than obviously dangling a plot hook in front of the players ("Hey, why don't you big, strong adventurers go to the wizard's tomb?", I try to subtly implant at least two or three hooks in such a way that it looks like they're brought up in a normal conversation as opponsed to being thrust upon them ("Yeah, my sister was one of the excavators who was doing research on that place they found up North"). Some adventures and some locations do require the direct thrusting of adventure hooks upon the players, though unless this is something that's going to affect them no matter what the decide to do (a rampaging army of orcs is about to show up at the front gates), I try to limit this to "job boards" or jobs given by one of the guilds the PCs might be members of (much like Daggerfall and Morrowwind).
ridiculous 01-02-04, 09:54 AM	Make adventures that require a little or no combat/dungeon crawling, like investigating a murder or some other kind of mystery. If your players like dungeon crawling, you can always put a dungeon at the end of the adventure... maybe the murderer ran away in some maze with traps and undeads or something...
zodiki 01-02-04, 11:13 AM	I like creating campaigns like the LotR or Raiders of the Lost Ark where there is one overall goal that's time sensitive. That way, there can be twists and turns, victories and defeats along the way but everything for the most part moves towards the goal. This requires the players to buy into it and come up with reasons their PCs want to continue the adventure. This needs to be done at the beginning. I don't have a problem though if a character decides he doesn't want to pursue it anymore and goes off on his own, the player just has to make another PC. Since there's an overall goal, I make the key adventures to support that goal. While the PCs are in the middle of one scene or story arc, I plant future possibilities to feel out which way the party might be going after this episode. Sometimes there's only one choice but usually there are several. I narrow it down to one choice before they "solve" the current adventure. To avoid rail-roading I always come up with several entry points to the adventure which allow the PCs to choose their next move without interference. I've been a DM for a long time and usually can anticipate the groups actions. Once in a while though there's an long-ball breakaway or flick-on and I'm scrambling to recover. That's a good time for a side-trek or a down-time adventure. These are little adventures or situations that I write up ahead of time that can easily be modified on the fly. My main point is that with my group, the fact that there is an overall goal and that goal is one that is both meaningful to the PCs and interesting to the players gives a context to all adventures - so it's not just another kick down the door, kill the dragon and take it's stuff - shampoo, rinse repeat - boring 4 hours - not that there's anything wrong with that.
Joachim de Ravenbel 01-02-04, 11:31 AM	The players are given some kind of plot hook and some how find out about an adventure... lets say gilad the barkeep tells them that tomb of a wizard has been found in the city well (gimmie a break I just thought it up) At the beginning of a campain, I never give a plot hook but drop the PCs directly in action (You are travelling from A to B when..., You are in a jail and you notice... You stopped to have your lunch when...). That's, as said, is for the starting adventure of a campain. For the following ones, I generally give one or better more (see Fixxxer, above) at the end of the preceeding one. The advantages are i) direct immersion in the game for all the adventures, ii) you know in advance where the next session will go iii) you avoid the cliché: you are in a tavern when someone, seeing that you are famous (hmm) adventurers comes to you... JdR
Jacob W. Michaels 01-02-04, 10:28 PM	My style falls along similar lines as Zodiki's. I know as a player that I like feeling like I'm in charge of where I'm going and not just following some basic treasure hunt/job that I learned about in a bar every time out. Drop me a diary that I can follow up on at my leisure during some completely unconnected adventure and I'm as happy as a clam in mud. Even better, give me something relating to my background. If, for example, I'm a monk who was raised in a monastery after being left there as a baby, have some bad guy drop a hint about my parents. That could lead to three or four adventures that I feel like I've decided to go on and am in control of. One or two to track the enemy down, a third quest to get her to divulge her information, and then a fourth to find my parents and learn why they abandoned me 20 years earlier. (And you can keep adding to it -- turns out dad is Emperor Doom of Latveria and he's more than happy to welcome me to the family -- in fact, perhaps I could help out and take care of a few things for him.) Jacob
The_EvilDungeon_Master 01-02-04, 10:55 PM	Hmm. When I'm playing with my friends, I tend to give them quite a few miniquests before I start on the main campaign. This allows them to get strong enough, and get used to the world.
Oakspar77777 01-03-04, 12:00 AM	I like to think of adventures as "layers" in a mapbuilding program. They vary from the very broad layer of ground top, to specific layers of doodads, triggers, characters, etc. (1) Layer one is character goal. This is what the characters each seek and strive for as a character. Hopefully this is more than just a really powerful character (munchkanism), a PrC (buildism), or undefined (poor-roleplayism). It might be revenge, a life of ease, power (within the campaign world, like being a king or dictator), earning the favor of a deity, etc. These make for great plot hooks for lesser adventures and themes for why the characters adventure in the first place. (2) Layer two is running jokes, I mean recurring adventures. These are the adventures that "scale" with the PCs and cause many smaller adventures. One example is the Nemesis. A NPC villian that pops up from time to time, each time more powerful than the last throughout the PCs careers. Another is the episodic adventure, that occurs over several smaller, escalating adventures. A favorite Nemesis of mine is Thanatos, a Cleric / Necromancer (Higher levels Pale Master), who the PrC's meet while he is pretending to be a Cleric of Pelor and walks them into a Skeleton / Zombie ambush in a graveyard at lower levels. Later on, he pops up as an agent of the Necromancers guild, at the head of an undead army, I even arrange for the PCs to be responsible for the "entrapment with undead" requirement for the Pale Master PrC. A favorite Episodic Adventure of mine is the Rat Race. The first encounter is clearing a warehouse in the Dock District of rats. Later on, the same warehouse is having more troubles, but it is with Moonrats leading Dire Rats. Later on is a random encounter with some Dire Rats in the streets, only the Dire Rats have gems in their cheek pouches. Finnally, the PCs get to stake out a jewler's shop, follow some dire rats back to the sewers. Down in the sewers, they can eventually find the pack of Wererats that are using the rats to do their stealing for them. In the nest, the PCs find evidence that the Wererats are supported by one of the council members. Only at high levels will the PCs have the clout to call down a member of the council, but they have that information in the back of their minds for levels. (3) Layer three are pointed adventures. These are adventures where the PCs quest for a specific benefit to their character. Fighter wants a flaming sword? Why have him buy the enchantment from a local mage, when you can have him take the party on a journy to a volcano and convince the resident Red Dragon to plunge the sword down into the volcano's heart. Diplomacy, GP cost, adventuring, and possibly some good ole' dragon smiting if worse comes to worse. Wizard wants a new spell? Buy a scroll? Heavens no! Have the spell scribed on the wall of an anchient temple. Let the party set up and defend a camp for a few days while the wizard researches the spell on site. (4) Layer four are story adventures. These are the adventures like investigating a murder, politcal intrigue, or even combatless encounters like cat burglaring. Skill use happens, CRs are faced, but the point is what happens not what dies. (5) Hook adventures. This includes errend running, seek and destroy (monster slaying), site encounters (dungeon delving), etc. (6) Random encounters. No story purpose (or else they are not really random). Some are hide or flee (gargantuan overflying red dragon), some are diplomacy (other adventurers, NPCs, etc), and some are combat (a pair of Trolls guarding a bridge). By including all of these kinds of encounters, your PCs will not grow bored, since there will be less hack and slash (which gets old), and more reasons to focus on skills and their use, as well as roleplaying elements. Hope this helps, and happy gaming!!!